James Wilson follows brilliant career on field as player with long tenure on field as official

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- The date was Oct. 16, 1993. It was the third Saturday in October, the ordained day of the annual Alabama-Tennessee football war. In Birmingham at sold-out Legion Field.

James Wilson

Alabama was trying to extend a 28-game winning streak dating back to the third game of 1991. Tennessee was hoping to snap a seven-year losing string against the Crimson Tide dating to the 1986 season.

As it turned out, the ending wiped out both streaks - in a kissing-your-sister sort of way.

Trailing 17-9 in the frantic closing moments, Alabama drove 83 yards in 83 seconds and scored its only touchdown on Jay Barker's quarterback sneak with 21 seconds on the clock. Down 17-15, Alabama then replaced Barker with speedy receiver David Palmer, who swept right end for a 2-point conversion.

Huntsville-Madison County
Athletic Hall Of Fame

About the writer Each day before the Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame banquet on April 14 we'll look at one of the honorees. The stories are written by former Huntsville Times sports editor John Pruett and are courtesy of the Hall of Fame. .

Standing on the sideline at the goal line as Palmer streaked untouched into the end zone, the head linesman in his black-and-white striped shirt thrust both arms high in the air, signaling the score that tied the game, 17-17. Since college football's overtime rule was still three years away, that's how it ended.

The pro-Alabama crowd had erupted when Palmer scored, but few players on either team were celebrating as they left the field.

"They didn't win but we didn't either,'' said Barker. "It feels like a loss.''

But to James L. Wilson, the head linesman who was the first to make the call on Palmer's run, just being a part of that day remains an enduring memory.

"It was one of the most unusual and exciting games that I ever worked,'' recalled Wilson 20 years later. "It was unusual in the fact that in the first half, both teams were mouthing off, big time, at each other. But when they started the second half, all you heard was hitting, not a word from either team, coaches or bench. I've worked lots of football games, but I'll always remember that one because of the players' intensity in the third and four quarters. That was a great, great football game.''

That game was another moment in time in what has been an eventful life in football for Huntsville native James Wilson, one of the pioneers in the mid-1960s during the early years of the integration of the city's public schools and now a member of the 2014 Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame.

A 1967 graduate of Butler High School, he was a two-year letterman in football and track, and then became a star tight end at Eastern Kentucky University, where he was a four-year letterman. His senior year, he was voted the team's MVP and was named to the OVC All-Conference team.

He went to work for Ford Motor Company shortly after graduation in 1972 and stayed with Ford, first in Louisville and Dallas and later in Memphis, for the next 34 years.

Now retired and living in Germantown, Tenn., he works for the NFL office as an Official Observer after many years as an on-the-field football official, including 13 years (1985-97) in the SEC and later in the NFL (1998-2003).

Wilson's interest in officiating began when he accompanied a friend to a high school all-star game in Louisville.

"For some reason,'' he said, "I started watching the officials work, and I said, 'I can do that. I can do that better than they can.' ''

He started officiating in 1964 and worked on the field until January of 2004.

"Needless to say, throughout my life and officiating career I've been truly blessed with many wonderful and caring coaches, teachers, preachers, mentors, relatives and friends,'' Wilson said. "Each of them had a lasting impact on my life and helped shaped me into the person that I am today. However, my parents, the late Theodore and Altha Wilson, instilled in me the value of having a strong work ethic, and being trustworthy and reliable. They had the greatest impact on my life because they always supported me in all I sought to do.''